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ACL Tear – Sports Knee Injuries – Pt 2

ACL Tear – Sports Knee Injuries Questions

Dr. J. Michael Bennett is a Board Certified Orthopedic Surgeon and Fellowship Trained Sports Medicine Doctor serving patients from Greater Houston through offices in Sugar Land, TX, and Richmond, TX. If you’ve experienced a knee injury and would like an appointment, please call 281-633-8600.

This is the transcript of the second part of a radio show that was hosted by Dr. Bennett on 1560 The Game.  With Dr. Bennett was Bob Lewis of 1560 The Game and Dr. Stephen Simonich of Katy Orthopedics in Katy, TX.


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DR. J. MICHAEL BENNETT – Welcome back to Saturdays With Dr. Jay. I want to give a shout-out to the Texas Sports Medicine Institute, they’re our primary sponsors over here, this is your one-stop shop for sports medicine injuries, orthopedics, pain management and rehabilitation. It’s actually a pretty incredible facility. If you ever get a chance to go out there and visit, do so. We got Danny right next store with Plex 99, and the website is www.texassportsmed.com So just feel free to check it out. The number here to our show is 713-439-1560. We appreciate you guys tuning in and we’ve got Dr. Stephen Simonich here and we’re talking about knee injuries and we’ve actually got a couple of phone calls here. Julia, you’re on the show here with us and Dr. Stephen Simonich. You have a knee question?

CALLER 1 – I’ve had chronic knee problems for awhile, I’m also a mom, and it seems like this injury keeps coming back. I’ve had it looked at several times, and I want to know how I can come back to being a mom and an athlete at the same time.

SIMONICH – Exactly what kind of knee injury are you having here? Is it an episode of instability, is it locking, is there a swelling issue? What kind of problem are you having?

CALLER 1 – It’s instability and I don’t want to undergo surgery although I need to from what I’ve been told. At some point, you say, I need to stop but you don’t want to give up your passion of being an athlete.

SIMONICH – Well Julia, let me ask you this. What sports do you like to play or do? Are you a runner?

CALLER 1 – No, I ride horses.

SIMONICH – And what’s your diagnosis?

CALLER 1 – I have an ACL tear.

SIMONICH – Okay, what I would tell you … and how old are you?

CALLER 1 – I’m in my thirties.

SIMONICH – With an ACL tear, if you have instability, the problem is that your knee might continue to be damaged the more it goes out on you. And that’s what we’re trying to prevent. It is hard, mothers – and that’s the biggest full time job out there – you don’t have a lot of time, but luckily what we’re here to talk about today is the restoration or reconstruction of these ligaments and people can recover from those very quickly to the point where you can help take care of your kids. It may take awhile to get back to the sports you like to do but it will just be a few months and it’s an outpatient surgery so I think that you shouldn’t be too fearful of that surgery – I don’t know who you’ve seen – but I think that you can rest assured that you will recover from that and it really will help that instability. So I would encourage you to either talk to the doctors that you saw or come see one of us.

BOB LEWIS – Doctors, when we talk about knee surgery, I think of knee surgery as you’ve hurt your knee on the ski slope and all of a sudden you’ve had knee surgery and you have a big long scar. What percentage is done by scopes now instead of cutting your knee open and making a big, long scar? Maybe that’s what she’s concerned about. She doesn’t want to have the surgery because she’s concerned about a knee scar.

SIMONICH – Well in particular as we talk about the ACL – which is the one most people injure when they get hurt on the ski slopes or when they twist or turn their knee –almost all of those are done arthroscopically now. Almost 100 percent of those we don’t have those big incisions anymore, people can do very well and recover quickly and mothers that are worried about taking care of their young children I think they can be back on their feet very quickly and be able to do that.

BENNETT – Well, Julia, hopefully that answered your question. Basically, there are some surgeries that we do still have to make incisions for but those usually aren’t ACL reconstructions or ACL tears, they usually involve cartilage issues.

If you’d like to make an appointment with Dr. Bennett, our office number is 281-633-8600.

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Dr. J. Michael Bennett

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